The India-Africa relation remained tensed on the day as protests held by many African nationals going on in various parts of the country against the growing intolerance towards Africans in India

Senior officials of External Affairs Ministry (MEA) met the parents of the Congolese national killed in a brawl on May 20. The MEA representatives offered a speedy trial in the case to the family of the deceased. The Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said that the Indian government will bear all expenses for dispatching the mortal remains of Oliver.

However, the India-Africa relation remained tensed on the day as protests held by many African nationals going on in various parts of the country against the growing intolerance towards Africans in India.

Several African students staged a protest at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi against increasing attacks on them and demanded that the Indian government act swiftly to stop such incidents.

“We want the government’s support as the incidents of attacks on people from African continent are increasing in the city. The Indian government needs to ensure safety of African nationals and act swiftly on such incidents,” said a protestor at Jantar Mantar.

According media reports , Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar has met a group of protesting African students and assured them of the safety and security of the community.

Many national and international figures have so far come forward condemning the ongoing attacks against Africans in the nation. Mocking the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government over the controversy, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav said that the string of incidents is a shame for the country.

“Several Africans brutally attacked in Delhi. An international shame. Who controls Delhi’s law and order? What sort of “raj” is this? Name it,” Yadav tweeted.

Meantime in Goa, police arrested a Nigerian who has been accused of kidnapping and raping a 31-year-old woman.

Superintendent of Police in Goa Umesh Gaonkar said the accused, one of two who are accused of committing the alleged crime, was nabbed in a train at Panvel railway station in Maharashtra.

Earlier, the victim in the case has claimed that two Africans had kidnapped her at knife-point and later raped her at a rented room in Assagao village, 20 km north of Panaji.

In the wake of the arrest, the Tourism Minister of Goa Parulekar triggered a fresh controversy stating that Nigerian nationals not just “create problems” in Goa, but across the country too.

Parulekar said that Nigerian students commit crimes on purpose to prolong their stay, sell drugs and indulge in “unwanted things”.

He also added that a strict pan-India law should be enacted to deport them within one month.

“Nigerians create problem not just in Goa, but in the entire country. Nigerian students come to Goa and India to study, they get an FIR filed (against them), make it a judicial matter and then try to stay in India or Goa and indulge in drugs and other unwanted things,” he said.

“Two years ago I had heard they had blocked the (national highway 17) highway. India should have a strict law, where the police force can catch them and deport them back. But that law is not in India at the moment, therefore it is a weak point in matters of governance,” Parulekar said, adding that those who have been “black-listed” or have committed crimes should be deported within a month.
Meanwhile, the Delhi police has begun looking into the case happened in Mehrauli, when a group of African students manhandled an Ola cab driver. The group was attacking Naruddin (Ola cab driver) when he refused to carry more than four passengers in his car.
“Naruddin has sustained injuries on his face and was shifted to Jai Prakash Narayan Trauma Centre for treatment,” a police officer said.
After thrashing the driver, the five men fled but the woman was apprehended by the driver, police said.